Paperless caching

Okay, after searching, printing, stapling and now organizating I don't know how many caches to get ready for the event in Clarksville, I want to hear from all those of you that go paperless.

What pda units do you use?

What software?

How do you get a .gpx file and not a .loc file from GC when you click download waypoints?

How do you use the GPXspinner program?

How do you use the iSilo program if you use palm?

I have a m130 palm available to me but I can't get the spinner to work. Thank goodness I found EasyGPS so I didn't have to manually input all those coordinates (but if Strider869 wants to use his, we have to do them manually) I'm tired and I haven't even left the house yet.

I ready for all the suggestions on going paperless. Now is the time with tax returns just around the corner.

WooHoo!! We are now both paperless cachers. If you are new to this sport and don't know what we're talking about, please post and we will be happy to explain.

We had 2 Palm IIIs that a friend had given us two years ago. He was getting rid of them and I never would have thought this would work on them. I downloaded EasyGPS to get the information from the queries into my garmin and Strider's magellan (which I had to purchase a data cable for his magellan. If you have an old magellan, guess what the software will even work with it.) I down loaded Cachemate to got on the PalmIIIs and it loaded on to it beautifully. Because I had the old Palms already it only cost me $16 for cachemate ($8 for each unit), $30 for Strider's GC premium membership and $45 for the data cable (Strider is using a Magellan GPS 315.) Hint: You don't have to have the latest technology with all the extra bells and whistles to do this sport.

This is so much easier then printing pages and trying to organize them.

Thanks Jerry and ArkansasStickerdude and Poppy for you help and suggestions.

LE,
I have a setup similair to what you got. My PDA is an old one that wouldn't be good for much of anything else. The only difference with my setup is I use GSAK instead of EasyGPS. GSAK has an export option where it exports it directly to the Cachemate.pdb file. So this is basically my steps:

I really like GSAK because it is basically a one stop shop for exporting to any other application I need. Those 6 steps above used to take over a dozen steps before. At one time I was doing everything using GPSBABEL on the command line. Ack!

I am so happy with paperless that I just ordered a new tungsten E for color maps I use Plucker and Spinner also have signed up for the free Avant-to-go so i can download the maps from the cache page. With spinner you get a Pocket que and spinner does it thing then you find the file and "Walal" plucker puts it on the Palm at your next hot sic. I am so happy. Mrs Geoark is now in the process of getting hers as well.

I was just telling OrangeDanish yesterday how I don't think I could ever go back to printing out cache pages again. We used to spend hours getting everything ready before a cache run. Now, I can put the nearest 500 caches in GPXSonar, load up both GPSrs, and make Pocket Streets maps of all those caches for my PocketPC in about 2 minutes!

Two weeks before the Nonnipoppy event, my HP 565 PPC screen went dead Faced with the horror of going back to paper caching (which would really suck in Clarksville), I got on Ebay and bought the bear minimum palm (Palm IIxe) that would run cachemate and have plenty of room for file storage. I paid $28 and that includes extra for fast shipping so I could get it before the event. $8 for cachemate and I was ready to go. I am impressed with how well it works. And for $28 if I drop it, I have not lost much. I have found that the Mapsend Topo maps for my Stortrak Pro are adequate for navigation.

It seems that my equipment problems did not end with the PPC. Right after the event my Sportrak decided to clear all waypoints by itself Luckily Gaddiel was with us so we used his GPSr. When I got home I loaded all of the waypoints back and it seems to be working fine.

Well after ready this topic and thinking about it for several weeks I have bit the bullet and bought a pda. I am charging it right now and can't wait until I can play with it. Questions may follow after I play with it for awhile. I love the idea of having all my personal info that I may need with me; contact info, appointments, medical info, anything that may come in handy. It also can play mp3's and take pictures..... cool....
I love technology and gadgets. I think that is one reason why geocaching appeals to me (more gadgets).

We had an HP IPAQ we used for about a year. Worked great. Last November, we were looking for Home Run Zone in Clarksville when it fell out of Ellen's pocket and the screen broke. Ordered a new one. Over Christmas, we were up in Fayetteville searching for a Stickerdude cache. I was done with it and slipped it into my back pocket. Sat down in the cache-mobile and broke another screen. Since they seemed to have become disposable, we bought the cheapest one we could find, a Palm Zire. Not as good, but a lot more rugged.